gunnarthor

So, Nikorak then?

Great. I'd love for Aiken to be our pick if the docs ok it.

I think so.

Agreed, but that was the rules mlb.com set up. If we just went with Twins, I'dprobabaly add Oliva or Mauer.

??? Walker is 23 and posting a .308 OBP in AA. When Arcia was 23 he had already lost his rookie status. There's no comparison between the two. Arcia is a good ML hitter, who could become really good, and Walker probably doesn't make the majors. (But this is way off topic).

No one - not even me - is calling for anything to be done off of 15 innings. I specifically said If he's throwing like that in a few more weeks, send him down.

Look, I love Gibson but right now he's awful. He's struck out 3 guys in over 15 innings and he's not getting ground balls. Something's not working. Hopefully, he comes out of this. But if he's still throwing like this in a couple weeks (assuming Meyer is pitching better) then send him down and fix it in AAA.

So you're saying more than half, right?

I don't think that will be a problem, unfortunately. If Gibson is still pitching like this, send him back down.

In a pitching duel against the Nats AJ Cole. 6ip, 3 walks, 2hits, 11k. How many good starts before we should bring him up? 1?

I wasn't trying to actually quote stats for having any worth - I was pointing out to Mike how silly it is to worry about Hunter's slow start. (Which snowballed into this discussion).

Yeah, his average probably won't hold that high. He's been around .315ish babip guy and will probably go back to that a bit. I don't know where to find these numbers but if he is hitting with a little more power this year - maybe some more line drives - we could see his babip go up from last year when he had a bunch of ground outs. But his iso OBP% is about right. He can beat his avg by about .100+ points so even if he's only hitting .260, he could be a .360 on-base guy. I don't think that's flukey. If the power comes, he's a real prospect again.

From Schonfield's chat today: Clay (Charlotte) I, for one, like it when teams genuinely don't like each other. Let's be honest, is there any reason that you would want to watch an A's/Royals game when they play again if this hadn't happen? No, I don't want head hunters or anything, but two teams that really don't like each other makes for great entertainment. David Schoenfield (1:41 PM) I'm with you there. You don't want to see anyone get hurt, but you have to love a little animosity and added intensity.

It doesn't mean anything. Defensive stats are terribly susceptible to SSS. And we still know how to accurately measure defensive stats or accurately value them. So we can say, "hey, this defensive stat says X, this defensive stat says Y." It doesn't matter. Jimmer has it right when he says we knew that Hunter and Arcia wouldn't be good defenders. But how bad (and both how it's measured and valued) is up for "debate." As to the theme of this thread, I've already said that Molitor was right not to pull him.

Jeez, Mike. It's been two weeks. Cripes, fangraphs defensive stats have Arcia the #2 LFer and Hunter the #10 RFer.

Yes, rivalries are created by geography and proximity - teams that play each other a lot are naturally better rivals. But that doesn't always create rivalries. The Twins and Tigers never had the rivalry with each other the Twins and White Sox had, despite competing for several division titles. They never disliked each other enough. Other factors - which can include blown calls by umps/refs, physical play/fights, free agent signings, draft picks, etc - can all add to a rivalry. If Brady Aiken ever makes it to the majors, his games against the Astros are going to mean something more to his fan base simply b/c of how Houston treated him last year. It adds something fun for the fan bases.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2015/franchise_four.jsp?c_id=min You can vote on the four franchise players in Twins history. ESPN's Schonfield had a blog on it today - http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/57146/franchise-four-al-central - and I agreed with his four picks - Walter Johnson, Kirby Puckett, Harmon Killebrew and Rod Carew. All four are in the HOF. Pretty hard to argue against any of them.

http://deadspin.com/baseballs-version-of-the-dress-what-does-batting-arou-1699097944# So apparently there is some confusion to what it means for a team to "bat around." I think it means 10 or more batters in an inning but others say just 9. Those others are wrong. Anyhow, Deadspin had a nice article on it and (if I did it right) there's a poll here.

I'll update this now even though the AA season has been really screwed up and they've only played 10 games. Anyhow, Harrison is having a great start to the season, through those ten games. The 22 year old is putting up a .324/.439/.529 line with 4 doubles and a homer (he hit 3 HR last year). He's been HBP 3x to go along with his 4 walks. He's hitting in the 5th spot in the order and leads the team in RBIs (and is 5th in the Southern League). His 4 doubles are also good enough for second in the Southern League (and leads the team). So far, so good. The big question is if he can hit with enough power this year and so far (SSS) he has. Hopefully, the power continues.

Jeremy, Do you know if any of the top guys are Close guys and, if so, how it might affect the Astros picking before us?

It was a one base error. Gibson shouldn't have let it rattle him. Mistakes happen. Nunez and Escobar made far worse errors last week. And I think if Gardy had immediately pulled Arcia (which he'd have never done, either), we'd have a ton of "Gardy threw Arcia under the bus" threads. Arcia's a bat-first left fielder. Give him time. Frankly, I've actually thought he looked better than I expected in left so far. If he's hitting, he can be a LFer.

It's been a decade since Hunter used the White Sox catcher as a human speed bump and fans in Chicago still haven't forgiven or forgotten. Laker/Celtic fans still revile/love the McHale/Rambis clothesline. Rays/Red Sox have created pretty significant bad blood the last few years even though most of the actual players involved are long gone. Hell, the Red Sox used to hit Yankee hitters every series for years. Physical play adds to rivalries and helps create them. It's why Viking fans want Aaron Rodgers hurt more than they want Cam Newton hurt.* The Twins and A's had a pretty good rivalry going back in the late 80s/early 90s and that included several HBP and bench clearing "discussions." Who knows if this brouhaha will add anything to the Royals/A's match up, it might be nothing or it could be part of growing rivalry between two smaller market teams. I know you and I look at this differently and we've spilled a ton of ink on it in the other thread, no reason to kill another. Your position baffles me and I feel at this point you might be too invested in that opinion to acknowledge anything outside of it. But this A's/Royals thing was fun - it was a big event on ESPN/mlb.com and their teams leading websites. It got people to pay attention and care about early April games against teams they don't usually care about. A's fans are rooting for the Twins this weekend just b/c they don't like the Royals. It's harmless fun.** Sure, maybe four months from now, no one cares. But maybe it becomes a bigger part of the two teams year. We don't know. So enjoy the mayhem. * Don't give me any "I don't know any Viking fans who want Rodgers hurt." Because you do. ** No one got hurt except Escobar, which ignited this whole thing.

Man, I cant believe he's staying in the game.

It was funny - Brisbee's had some funarticles - but had an agenda. I prefer the pure joy of the mayhem over the soapbox morality. That's why I really enjoyed the Royal's "Brett Lawrie is a disgrace" piece. Just pitch perfect. But it's nice to see fans caring about the games. Sure beats an Astros/Red Sox snoozefest.

Apparently, this got better (and by better, I mean much more juvenile). A KC sports radio station invited Alex Hall, the author of the A's sportsnation piece "Kelvin Herrera is a disgrace to baseball" onto their show. He declined. So, it sounds like the radio guys simply gave out Alex Hall's email address over the air to their listeners and encouraged fans to blow up his email. A's and Royals play again in June.